Moscow Day 4

This was our last full day in Moscow and we got up early to go to Red Square. The weather was amazing. It was sunny and in the 40's and it was almost too hot for a coat when you were walking around.  We walked from our hotel, down Arbat, to Red Square. We stood in a super long line to try to get tickets to do some of the tours like the diamond fund and the armory. After an hour we were next to get tickets and the lady shut the window and put a closed sign up! Evidently there were only a limited amount of tickets and they ran out. We didn't care though because it was just so fun to be together and have time to talk.  We decided to just walk around and explore on our own. The Red Square is pretty amazing. It is huge! One whole side is an upscale mall and there are a couple cathedrals and government buildings inside.

The picture below is a few blocks away from Red Square.

The picture above is the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Our favorite thing that we did in Moscow was touring St. Basil's Cathedral. The cathedral was built in the 1500's and is now a museum that displays old icons and religious art.

After climbing that tight stair case in the picture above it opened up into a round room that I'm guessing is at the bottom of one of the towers. There were three men in there singing hymns. The acoustics just made their voices fill the space and you felt it. It was incredible to experience it in that setting.

Here are some funny pictures that really showcase my amazing photography skills...

Here I caught Mark mid-yawn

And the awesome painting below that I was sure to capture!

It really was a dream come true to be able to do this with Mark. I loved every second and am so thankful that we were able to do it.

Moscow Day 3

We took taxis everywhere in Moscow. Mark had an app kind of like Uber where he could call a taxi and one would show up in a few minutes. It was nice because the price was already set and he could pay directly from the app. and they were cheap. We had heard that you have to be careful negotiating with taxi drivers because they will rip you off, so we were glad not to have to worry about it.  Usually they were good drivers but we had a couple that drove crazy and I sometimes got carsick.

On the morning of day three we called a taxi and had him take us to a museum that had beautiful art but was by all Russian artists. 

After the museum we went back to Mark's apartment and packed up and moved to the hotel where we were staying for the next two nights. It was a nice hotel and we were about a mile from Red Square. Right outside our hotel was a very touristy, artsy street called Arbat. This was one of my favorite places in Moscow. It was probably half a mile long and was just a walkway, no cars. It was lined with shops and restaurants. It also had a lot of street artists and musicians. It was really fun to walk along this street and just people watch. It especially came alive at night. 

The people in the picture above were selling rabbits. There were also people that had hawks and pigeons that you could pay to hold and take pictures. 

One night we walked to a chocolate shop. It was supposed to have delicious chocolate but we thought that it was just okay. The cool thing about traveling is everything is new and different and interesting so it doesn't matter what you are doing, it's just fun.

Moscow Day 1 & 2

We were able to stay in Mark's apartment through the weekend. It was a really nice apartment that had a cool view.

That first night we went to a little cafe that was just a few blocks or so from the apartment. I had a club sandwich and Mark had sushi.  It was good food and I was just so happy to be there with him after so long apart.

The next day Mark and I went to this huge market.  The sun was shining but it was cold, especially down in the stalls where it was mostly shaded.  The top part of the market is old churches and statues.

The market was basically stalls filled with Matryoshka dolls, war memorabilia and souvenirs. It was really fun to walk through and look at all the stuff but I got tired of haggling with every single merchant. 

Around lunch time vendors came out and started grilling kababos and they smelled amazing. Mark and I split a kabob and some delicious fried bread.

While we sat there a street artist came up and drew a picture of me. It was funny because we were out of cash and we kept telling him not to do it but he wouldn't listen. When we asked what he wanted for the picture he would just say a million dollars. When he was done Mark gave him our last couple dollars.

That night Mark took me to the funnest restaurant called Eshak. We sat back on these big couches (which is something that is common there in nicer restaurants).  I had steak and we both had borscht. Borscht is a soup with a beet base that has meat, vegetables and other spices in it. It is really hearty and delicious.

In the picture above you can see a shisha next to the table behind Mark. We saw this at many of the restaurants we went to. A man walks around with this pipe and people can pay to smoke from it. Another thing different about Russian restaurants is they expect you to hang out for a long time, hours even. They never bring the check unless you ask.

After dinner they had a live band. They sang American songs and they were really good. We had a ton of fun listening to them.